After the Kiss
by Anne Jaye
Summary: A story about what happened after the last kiss in Episode 200.


We've all seen episode 200, right? Well, if you haven't you should! This takes place during the final minutes of episode 200 and runs on into what happens after Usagi and Mamoru kiss at the close of the series. It's just my take on what happens! A bit of manga is thrown in here too, because I figure if the series is based on the manga, then, well the last episode should be based on the last manga! Am I making sense? Anyway, please E-mail me and tell me your thoughts, good and bad. Enjoy!  
  
"After the Kiss"  
  
rated: PG  
  
  
  
"...whenever I'm with you, I'm filled with energy..." Mamoru murmured huskily as Usagi's hopeful eyes beamed up at him.  
His heart felt as if it had swollen two sizes in the confinement of his chest since he and his beloved had arrived at the stony bridge that peered out over the lake. *Their* lake, Mamoru noted, that flowed to a lush, grassy patch of earth where *their* bench rested. It was that private spot where they would run to when they desired to be alone together, which didn't happen quite often enough. Throughout their relationship, cherished secrets, sweet kisses, and declarations of love had been exchanged there between the two.  
Mamoru took a deep breath as he reminisced on the wonderful years he'd had with Usagi thus far. It was what he had always dreamed of in his youth, and prayed for in his manhood--to have a glorious love so strong and pure, and to share it with no one else but the blonde goddess by his side. 'How could I have ever left her?' He wondered.  
His heart began to pound louder and harder against his heaving chest as the moment started to invade him. They were finally alone; at peace; and she was so close...  
Usagi snuggled her head lovingly on his shoulder as she gripped his muscular arm against herself, afraid that her Mamo-chan would be ripped away from her again. However, Usagi would never let it happen again. She was startled when he blinked once and then turned suddenly with glassy tears coating the midnight blue eyes Usagi thought she would never see again.  
Mamoru felt as if he couldn't take it anymore. How long had it been since the two lovers *had* been alone together? Far too long they both concluded silently.  
Usagi could only allow herself to blush shyly and offer a smile to the man she loved. Words that usually bubbled like a geyser from her lips died and retreated there. Mamoru's intense gaze penetrated deeply into Usagi's soft, forgiving eyes--eyes that told Mamoru he wanted and needed this fallen angel with everything that made him a man. Overwhelming emotions began to pour into Usagi's soul. She bathed in them, like a dying flower receiving a rain. She let the warmth come over her and melt the bitter loneliness she'd felt that day when Mamoru had left.  
Am I really here with Usako? Mamoru's mind wandered as his vision became misted with tears. 'My mind can't be playing tricks on me, can it?' He thought nervously. So many times reality had only been fantasies, jumbled about in Mamoru's troubled mind. He had to know if these burning emotions inside of his heart, exploding with the fire for his one and only, were not in vain, and *not* another silly dream.  
Slowly, he placed his shaky hands on her shoulders and held her at arm's length, to examine her as he always did. 'The same bunny I remember...but even more painfully beautiful.' He thought as his desperate eyes roved over her. Usagi blushed a light pink as Mamoru looked her over, drinking in her sight. He finally halted his exploration and locked gazes with her once again. The fire in her soul demanded one thing at that moment: A kiss. 'Please kiss me Mamo-chan...' she pleaded with her eyes, trying to drive the message to him. Good thing for Usagi that was all he had thought about doing when in the hell between life and Galaxia's prison.  
Slowly, the distance between the two became shorter...and shorter...until their lips crashed together like the waves upon a deserted beach, sending chills through both of their bodies. Reds, yellows, and whites exploded blindingly in the darkness of their closed lids. Tiny goosebumps formed along Usagi's arms, shoulders, and neck, causing her to shiver with the delight of her Prince's kiss.  
Mamoru's head spun wildly as he caressed her lips with his own and felt as though he would faint if he didn't hold her to him for support. He gently slid his palms from her shivering shoulders, down her arms, and then to her waist, where he finally snaked his arms around her back and pulled her possessively towards him. It was to both as if this was the first kiss they'd shared. Their first kiss in almost a year.  
Agonizingly slow, Mamoru pulled back until their noses touched. He made sure that when he spoke, his lips brushed and teased her own, so the total contact would not be broken. Midnight blue eyes focused down upon sky blue.  
"I'm never leaving you again..." he whispered raggedly, his vocal chords seemingly crippled by the sweetness of Usagi's lips. He firmly pressed aching lips on hers for a brief second, overwhelmed by the urge to feel her again.   
"Ever." he exhaled forcefully, probing her glittering eyes with his.  
"Mamo-chan..." Usagi moaned brokenly as tears poured without restraint down her hot cheeks, not knowing what else to say. How could she possibly express to him how much she *really* loved him? It was nothing but overwhelming to have her Mamo-chan back after this drawn-out period of time. Words were not suitable enough for tonight.  
He responded only by squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his face to her shoulder, right next to her face. She sighed gently and wrapped quaking arms around his neck, leaning her head onto his. A startled gasp escaped her pink lips and her tears momentarily halted as she felt something warm and wet tricking down her neck.   
Tears.  
Mamoru was crying.  
She immediately held him tighter as she realized the situation.  
"Onegai, don't cry Mamo-chan..." she pleaded in his ear, squeezing her own eyes shut, trying to stop her tears from springing forth again.  
"I'm sorry for leaving you Usako...I missed you *so* much." his muffled reply came. The incessant tears insisted on running their course down Usagi's face again, faster this time. She hugged her love just a little bit tighter.  
"I missed you, too..." she murmured, stroking the back of his dark head with her small hand. "The nights were so long," she continued, "I needed your touch so badly...I couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to have you holding my hand, or smiling at me again..."  
Two crystal tears fell unnoticed onto Mamoru's shoulder and seeped into his green jacket as Usagi poured her heart and soul out for only Mamoru to make sense of.  
"The emptiness was consuming me, but I never let it show..." her voice wavered, "not even to the other girls."  
"But Mamo-chan," she added, gently lifting his head off her shoulder so she could stare into his eyes. The eyes she had missed *so* much. "we're together now--that's all that matters."  
Mamoru's mind reeled at how understanding and forgiving his little bunny was. She always made the best of a bad situation.  
Slowly, a smile spread through his tear streaked face. He placed one hand on the small one positioned on the left side of his face. He gasped at what he felt. Slowly, he brought her hand to his eye level.  
"You're still wearing your ring?" he asked in delightful surprise. Surely, he had thought, she would have discarded it when she thought he had neglected her by not contacting her after all that time--but it was still there.  
Usagi laughed. "Of course! I've never taken it off!"  
A memory of some unfinished business suddenly clicked into place as Mamoru gazed lovingly down at the smooth, pink stone atop the golden band. When he had given her that ring, it had symbolized two promises to Usagi: The first, that he would indeed return to her, and second, that he would propose to her and give her a *real* engagement ring one day, so they would be forever joined.  
"Usako?" he swallowed nervously, twisting her promise ring back and forth around her slender finger.  
"Yes?" she answered sweetly. Gently, she brushed away the remainder of his tears still clinging to his cheeks as she listened.   
With his other free hand, he reached nonchalantly into his pocket and grasped something in his palm.  
"Please say you'll be mine forever..." he whispered leaning his forehead onto hers. Slowly, he slid down on one bended knee, still grasping her hand.  
Usagi's heart fluttered rapidly in her chest as she anticipated Mamoru's next words. 'This is it...' her mind repeated to her like a broken record. Could these be the words she'd been dreaming of hearing her entire life?  
Piercing dark blue eyes gazed up at her, sparkling with undying love.  
"Please say you'll be my wife..." he asked hopefully, offering a sparkling diamond engagement ring. A small gasp escaped her agape mouth, her legs suddenly giving in to her weight.  
"Marry me, Usa."  
She stared at him silently for a few moments with glistening tears spilling onto her face. Her thoughts raced in unorganized spirals in her head and she willed her voice to start working again.  
Mamoru waited in agonizing suspense as he watched Usagi obviously hear his question, but not yet answer. Before he had even a split second to ponder the situation any further, he got the answer he had wanted to hear ever since the day a cute blonde girl had decided to use his head as a trash can.  
"Yes..." Usagi murmured shakily. "Yes, yes, yes, Mamo-chan, yes!" she yelled in pure rapture, falling to meet her love at his position on the ground. She threw her arms around him fiercely and kissed him over and over, covering his face. Mamoru laughed happily and switched Usagi's promise ring with her new diamond engagement ring. She squealed with delight as he made the switch and crushed her lips against his for the seemingly one-thousandth time that night. Mamoru, however did not let this kiss get away so innocently.  
He held one hand behind Usagi's head, holding it into place as he deepened the kiss. His tongue slid in and out of her parted mouth slowly as she counterattacked by caressing it with her own. He softly cradled her head and back, guiding her backwards so that she was lying on the stony ground of the bridge, himself looming over her.  
Mamoru's head started to throb painfully from lack of oxygen and he slowly pulled away.  
"I don't want to be alone tonight, Usa." he whispered onto her face. Desire was getting the best of him, kicking his self-control out the window. His dark bangs fell shaggily and untamed over his forehead and tickled Usagi's. One hand reached up to tease them back.   
"You won't be...I'll be with you tonight." she replied, giving a certain innuendo to her tone. Usagi knew after all they had been through, they needed this night for themselves.  
"I love you, Usako." Mamoru whispered close to her face. She replied by softly kissing his cheek.  
He gently lifted her up into his arms and carried her quietly back to his car, finally reuniting with the princess of his dreams, and the woman of his reality, after so long.   
  
  
  
The End.  
If any of this seems familiar to any of you, no I didn't plagarize, it IS Sailor Tampa's, "200", because, well, I am Sailor Tampa. I'm going under this new author name as kind of a fresh start to my fanfiction writing. To read my other stories, please visit http://www.geocities.com/sailortampa/ 


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